


days i've spent watching it now

by Linnea_Ancalime



Series: Mechs x Inanimate Objects [1]
Category: The Bifrost Incident - The Mechanisms (Album), The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Mechs x Inanimate Objects AU, Other, Possible Mind Control, being in a relationship with a recording device that's been corrupted by the Outer Gods, i wrote this and im not sure which it is so. interpret to your heart's content, look i have no clue if this tag exists yet but, possible symbiotic relationship, this doesn't have like. physical content or fluff or anything it's just, unreality, weird abstract exploration of the concept of, yknow. run of the mill shipping stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:56:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27704486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linnea_Ancalime/pseuds/Linnea_Ancalime
Summary: And yet they couldn't help but feel a deep kinship with the broken artefact, in a way. It was trying its best, stuck with people who could not comprehend its thoughts nor its secrets in spite of their best efforts.(In which Inspector Second Class Lyfrassir Edda and the black box develop an interesting relationship.)
Relationships: Lyfrassir Edda/The Black Box
Series: Mechs x Inanimate Objects [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026876
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	days i've spent watching it now

**Author's Note:**

> so this was going to be a self-indulgent funny "mechs x inanimate object" ship meme thing for the mechscord, but, unlike my tim x gun stuff which usually stays within the tone i plan for it to have, lyf x black box veered _wildly_ off course, so now we have this and im subjecting all y'all to it :3

Inspector Second Class Lyfrassir Edda was at an impasse.

They had been trying for days (days on end, days that were beginning to feel rather like weeks) to solve the mystery of the black box that had arrived with the Ratatosk Express; and they were so frustrated with it that they were going to invent an entirely new emotion soon, just to convey the depths of their frustration.

The contents of the black box were fried, the artefact corrupted beyond repair, its knowledge lost forever (" _almost beyond repair, not lost forever,_ " suggested a soft caress at the back of their mind, so easy to let pass unnoticed). They should have given up long ago.

And yet they couldn't help but feel a deep kinship with the broken artefact, in a way. It was trying its best, stuck with people who could not comprehend its thoughts nor its secrets in spite of their best efforts.

Their frustration reaching a peak as they dwelled on the problem, they seized the black box and nearly threw it against the wall; but thought better of it, and stopped themself at the last second.

It was _trying its best_.

They put the box back down, and sighed. They really only had one option left, didn't they? And they really, really didn't want to take it. (" _... Did they?_ " came the gentle nudge.)

No, they really didn't want to take it. They were certain of that.

* * *

Months later, alone _Are you? Are you really?_ in their ship and far, far away from _the ruins of_ their native star system, Inspector Second Class Lyfrassir Edda gazes at the beautiful box that Ivy _so kindly_ repaired for them before the escape _before the change_.

It's strange to associate the word "kind" with any of the prisoners, really, they think; and they turn the artefact over and over again in their hands, absent-mindedly polishing its corners with their thumb as it whispers to them those now-familiar tales of improbable _ethereal_ architecture, of ceaseless chaotic _sublime completion_ , of doom and terrors beyond imagining _and still you know them, Lyfrassir, you've seen them all, you left and still you've seen them all_.

They know that, yes.

They see all of it all too well in the nightmares that plague them, plague until the presence at the back of their mind smoothes out the edges, turns horror into _beauty_ , into _apotheosis_ , into _solace_ and relief because they _got away, you needed to, it's beautiful and you needed to get away._ There's no shame in that.

Words will never do any of it justice, they know; such sights can't ever be rendered properly through words alone, when the mind already has trouble grasping them without help.

The _helpful_ presence at the back of their mind -- welcome constant comfort in their endless flight from home -- _hums_ in agreement.

There'll _be time to_ worry _later_. What they need _for now_ is to _get_ _away_.

Inspector Second Class Lyfrassir Edda sets the black box next to them on the hard mattress of their cot, and lets the whispers lull them to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> so!! there it is. lyf x black box. hehe
> 
> look before anything else. i need to say i started shipping mechs x inanimate objects as a JOKE. it was a MEME y'all
> 
> but then the concept just. seized my brain and will not let go. tim x gun genuinely brings me so much joy. i have written so much tim x gun (shoutout to elliot who has also written so much quality tim x gun. bless and thank u). and now that ive attempted to write it, it turns out i am also shipping lyf x black box, but in a way that's weirder and more out there than tim x gun (which is as it should be tbqh)
> 
> im active on the mechscord @The Salt Institute (Bee) and also on tumblr @[queer-omens-in-the-archives](https://queer-omens-in-the-archives.tumblr.com)
> 
> ~~pls consider cömmêñté for my vàlìdãtïøn??~~


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